Automatic folding fender.



W. J. HICKEY.

AUTOMAUC FOLDING FENDER. APPLICATION FILED APR. 8, 1913. RENEWED JUNE 14. 1915.

1,168,209. Patented $111.11, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON. D. c.

W. J. HICKEY.

AUTOMATIC FOLDING FENDER.

APPLHIATION HLED APR. 8, 1913. RENEWED JUNE 14. 1915.

1,168,209. Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

I k-gml It: #2 k BMW THE COLUMEiA PLANOGRAFH 410., WASHXHGTDN, n. c.

UNITED sTATEsPATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAMl- HICKEY, OF RENO, NEVADA.

AUTOMATIC FOLDING FENDER.

Patented Jan. 11, 1916.

7 Application filed April 8, 1913, Seria1 No. 759,769. Renewed June 14, 1915. Serial No. 34,068.

advance of the: same and a swinging section hingedly connected by its rear; edge to the lower edge of the fixed section and normally extending in horizontal sp aced relation above the ground, the forward end of said latter member or section being supported from the upper endof the first member by a flexible V netting in such a manner that the impact of any body caught by the fender against the netting will cause the upward swinging of the forward end of the horizontal body member to prevent the body picked up by the fender from falling from the same.

A further object isto provide means for limiting the upward swinging of'the horizontal fender member under impact of. a body picked up by the fenderto prevent any possibility of crushing the body so picked up between the vertical and horizontal fender members.

A further object of my invention is to provide means for automatically holding the horizontal fender member in its upswung position, said means being so arranged that the horizontal fender member may at any time be released by the motorman from the car. And a still further object of my invention is to provide means whereby the motorman, without descending from the car, may swing the horizontal fender member upwardly to bear against the vertical fender member when the fender is not in use.

.With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a conventional form of street car showing one of'my improved fenders applied to each end of the car, the fender at one end of the car being shown in operative position while that at the other end is shown with the horizontal member folded against the vertical member; Fig. 2 is a side elevation, in detail, of my improved fender and the operating mechanism therefor, a portion of the car platform being shown in section. This view shows the horizontal member of the fender in the position to which it would be swung by impact of a body against the netting, its normal position being shown in dotted lines. Fig. 3 is a view similar to that shown in'Fig. 2, but illustrating the position of the parts when the horizontal member of the fender is folded against the vertical member; Fig. 4: is a. top plan view of the fender and its operating mechanism, the horizontal section being shown in operative position, and Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail perspective, showing the manner of connecting the fender members together-and also showing certain details in construction of the vertical fender member, parts being broken away to permit the showing of the device upon a somewhatenlarged scale.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

In conformance with the usual custom, oneof my improved fenders will be mounted upon each end of the car as shown in Fig. 1 in which a conventional form of car is indicated by the numeral 10, this car having at either end platforms 11. A pair of spaced apart L'-shaped brackets 12 are secured to the lower face of each of the platforms and carry the vertical fender member indicated as a whole by the numeral 13, this vertical fender member in turn carrying the horizontal fender member 14.

As best shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings,

the vertical fender member includes a pair of spaced apart side frames 15, the lower ends of which are curved forwardly as at 16, these frames being connected at spaced intervals by transversely extending parallel slats or bars 17. A plurality of plates or bars 18 of resilient metal have their end portions rebent to extend in parallel spaced relation to the body portion and in alinement with each other and these end portions are secured to the upper and lower slats 17 by bolts or other suitable fastening devices 19 in such a manner that the body portions of these strips extend vertically and in spaced relation to each other and t0 the bodyportion 13 of the fender toact as'a resilient;

buffer for any objector person striking against the fender.

The horizontal fender member is some what similarin construction to the vertical fender vmember and includes spaced side frames 20 connected by a' plu'ralityof transand secured by its opposite edge inlike manner tothe forward edge portion of the fender member 14, this nettingbeing equal in width to the width of thefenclers and .of such length that whenin extended position,;

as shown at the right of F ig. 1,; itsupports I the horizontalfender member inactive position, the fender members being hingedly connected to each other by bolts or pivot pins 25 passed through the lower endsof the sides 15 of the vertical fender member and through the sides 20 ofthe horizontal fender ly in advance of the upmember immediate curved end. portion thereof.

Brackets 2 6 aresecured to the car platform, one ,upon either-side, and each ofthesev ,brackets; has. a downwardly depending arm 27 upon the free end of which is lpivotally mounted a lever 28. jOne end of each of these levers is slotted, as at 29, for. pivotal connection with the rear end of the adjacent side frame 20 of the horizontal fender memupper portion of the lever.

ber, while the opposite ends of the levers are'slotted as at 30t0 receive a' shaft 31. A rack member 32 extends througha slot. 33 preferably formed centrally; of the car, platform and is mounted,- at its lower 6116.".

upon :the shaft 31. This rack member includes a vertically extending body portion providedintermediate its length with a pawl seat- 34, the lower face I-Of which extends horizontally and further provided through out :its height and at one side with a for-' wardly directed flange 35', the'advance edge of which is notchedto provide a plurality of rack teeth 36. i V 1 r V Swingingly mounted by their lower ends,

one at the rear and one inadvance of the rack member, is a footpedal 3 7 and a lever:- 38, a-link39 pivotally connectlngthe 1nter-,

mediateportion of. the foot pedal with the Upper and lower pawls 40 and 41 are pivotally support ed in vparallel spaced relation to each other upon the intermediate portion of the lever 38 and are normally held in engagement with the rack member by helical springs 42 and 43,-which are secured by one end to the forward ends of, .the .pawls and, by their other end to a supporting bracket 44. As

best -shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, the pawl 40 is;positioned-in alinement with the rack teeth 36 by means of a sleeve 45 about the pawl lpivotl'pin and bearing between the 4 pawl and lever while the pawl 41 is similarly 76 supported in alinement with the. bOdYQpOIL-E;

tion of the, rack member ,by a sleeve 46, By reference to F igs.2 a'IidBof the draw- 7 v ings, it will be apparent that any engagementof .the pawl 41--in the'notch: oi pawl seat ofthefbody portion ofthe rack'member, will lock the rack vmember against further 5 upward movement, while/any {engagementof the Pawl 40 with the teeth 36"of ther'ack f I member will lock the downward movement. I

In order to permitv the -manual release of both pawls through asingle foot pedal, the.

rack member against 3 pawl .41 isprovidedwith a slot. 47 through.

which its piv t pin passes, this slot being g of such length as to permit thespring' tof f move'gthel'pawl forward independently 'of the I lever to seat thesame in then'otchior pawl seat 34whenthe latter is brought into 'aline'g mentwith the pawl, as shown in IF ig. 2,; Itj.- will alsobe clear from an inspection OTE-Fig. 2 of thedrawings tha'ta forward swinging: of the foot pedal will swing both ofengagement with the rackmembr; to per-I. mit the raising orloweringo'fthe latter; The fender alctu ating mechanism is. pref-f erably inclosedin a casing .or'housing 48, i the foot pedalv alone being exposedl. In or-Y'. Q

der to permitthe' manual raising of the rack. member to swing the horizontal fender memher into inoperative position l have pro; vided the upper end ofQthe rack member 'Y with an eye'49 to whichis secured one. end of a cord 50 the Ioppositee nd .of which extends. through the top of the housing and termi- 10s nates in a ring 51." Y 1" .Fromthe. foregoing.description, the oper ationof my improved fender-will be readily understood, and: buta brief description of the same istherefore necessary In use, .the

horizontal member of that fender'upon the front of thecar is lowered, as shown ,at the, right of Fig..1,.while the horizontalmem l ber of thefender atthe rear of the car is raised, as shown at; the leftv of- Fig. 1., In ll} this position of the forward fender, the pawl. 40 is in engagement with'the rack teeth of the rack member, but this pawl and the m1:

teeth are so, arranged as to in no-wayxinten fere. withthe upward movement of the rackjlza member. K 1 Any person struck bythe car will, because of his impact against the netting 23, cause the horizontal fender member 14 touswing pw ly-to s s po ion as that pawn out? ioo with the teeth of the rack member, will absolutely prevent any return movement of the horizontal fender member until manually released, and that the two fender members, together with the netting, thus form in effect a cradle for the support of the person struck. At the same time, the horizontal fender member cannot possibly swing, because of the impact, to a higher point than that shown in Fig. 2, because of the pawl 41, which automatically engages the pawl seat 3. of the rack member at this point to limit further upward movement of the rack memher and consequently of the horizontal fender member. The motorman or other person on the car may, however, lower the horizontal fender member by merely pressing forward on the foot pedal 37 to simultaneously release both the pawls 4:0 and 4:1, whereupon the fender member will fall by gravity. In like manner, the horizontal fender member may be manually raised by the motorman from the car at any time by pulling upward on the cord 50 to raise the rack member, this upward movement of the rack member acting through the lever 28 to depress the rear end of the horizontal fender member and swing its forward end up wardly. By this manner the horizontal fender member may be raised to the position shown in Fig. 2 and then, if desired, to the position shown in Fig. 3 by pressing forward on the foot pedal to disengage the pawl ll from its seat 34:. As soon as the horizontal fender member has been raised to the desired position, the foot pedal is released to permit the pawl &O to engage the teeth of the rack member and lock the fender in adjusted position.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have provided an extremely simple and efi'ective form of scoop fender, and one which, while automatic in its action, may be at any time manually operated by the motorman without the latter leaving the car.

It will of course be understood that I do not wish to limit myself to the specific details of construction illustrated in the drawings and described in the above specification as various minor changes, within the scope of the appended claims, may at any time be made, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A fender including hingedly connected vertical and horizontal members, adiagonally extending flexible netting connecting the free edges of said members and movable rearwardly under impact to swing the free edge portion of the normally horizontal Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the member upwardly, and means for automatically holding said member in upswung position, said means including a vertically reciprocable rack bar, a spring pressed pawl adapted to co-act with the teeth of said bar, and an operative connection between said bar and the normally horizontal fender member.

2. A fender including vertical and nor mally horizontal members hingedly connected, a flexible member connecting the free edges of said first members and movable rearwardly under impact to swing the free end of the normally horizontal member upwardly, and means for normally limiting the upward swinging of said member, said means being releasable to permit further upward swinging.

3. A fender including vertical and normally horizontal members hingedly connected, a fiexible member connecting the free edges of said first members and movable rearwardly under impact to swing the free end of the normally horizontal member upwardly, and means for limiting the upward swinging of said member, said means including a vertically reciprocable rack member provided with a pawl seat, a spring pressed pawl adapted for engagement in said seat to limit the upward movement of the rack member, and operative connection between the rack member and the normally horizontal fender member.

4:. In a fender construction, a vertical fender member, a normally horizontal fender member hingedly connected by its rear end to the lower end of the vertical fender member and supported at its forward end by a flexible netting connecting said forward end with the upper end of the vertical fender member, the normally horizontal fender member having rearwardly and upwardly directed arms, a vertically movable rack member provided with a plurality of rack teeth and with a pawl seat, a lever pivoted intermediate its length and operatively connected to the extended arms of the normally horizontal member and to the lower end of the rack member, spring pressed pawls mounted for automatic engagement one with the teeth of the rack member and one with the pawl seat thereof, and a lever operatively connected with said pawls for simultaneously disengaging the same from the rack member.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WVILLIAM J. HIOKEY.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

